240 General: New (to me) 1980 Volvo 244

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Been trying to think of a "David Attenbrough-esque" commentary to add but the brain cell isn't working. Something along the lines of a Volvo in its natural habitat...........

The Abominable Snowcar...

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

The Abominable Snowcar...

You certainly had more snow there than we did here Alan but i know when it came down (i had to go out and started my homebound journey about 30 seconds before the snow started!) it was near-horizontal and coming down like there was no tomorrow.

Several times i couldn't see the end of the bonnet, never mind the verges, all on more or less single track roads with a few sudden, sharp bends. Also i found the snow was sort of hypnotic, between that and the 110% concentration needed to not go off the road it became easy to miss important things like potholes, bends and so on.

Luckily the car behaved just like a Volvo (that sounds like an ad campaign tag-line ) and didn't lose grip even when i deliberately provoked it. All on normal, "middle of the road" budget radials, probably of Chinese origin.

Will be intersting to see how many of your neighbours can get out tomorrow without a problem!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

You certainly had more snow there than we did here Alan but i know when it came down (i had to go out and started my homebound journey about 30 seconds before the snow started!) it was near-horizontal and coming down like there was no tomorrow.

Several times i couldn't see the end of the bonnet, never mind the verges, all on more or less single track roads with a few sudden, sharp bends. Also i found the snow was sort of hypnotic, between that and the 110% concentration needed to not go off the road it became easy to miss important things like potholes, bends and so on.

Luckily the car behaved just like a Volvo (that sounds like an ad campaign tag-line ) and didn't lose grip even when i deliberately provoked it. All on normal, "middle of the road" budget radials, probably of Chinese origin.

Will be intersting to see how many of your neighbours can get out tomorrow without a problem!

Yes indeed Dave, we certainly did have a good dump of snow - it is about 8" deep in the winter wonderland outside, so I think Bob and I will delay his first walk until 07:00. It is due to be sunny today though, so most of the snow should have gone by tonight.

It is fortunate you managed to get home safely - it sounds like it was windier for you - here there was almost no wind so the snow fell vertically for about 8 hours.

Like you, I'll be interested to see how many of my neighbours can get up the slope from our cul de sac this morn. I rather suspect no one else has fitted winter tyres and no one bothered to shovel a path out last night. No matter :-)

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

Yes indeed Dave, we certainly did have a good dump of snow - it is about 8" deep in the winter wonderland outside, so I think Bob and I will delay his first walk until 07:00. It is due to be sunny today though, so most of the snow should have gone by tonight.

It is fortunate you managed to get home safely - it sounds like it was windier for you - here there was almost no wind so the snow fell vertically for about 8 hours.

Like you, I'll be interested to see how many of my neighbours can get up the slope from our cul de sac this morn. I rather suspect no one else has fitted winter tyres and no one bothered to shovel a path out last night. No matter :-)

We had about 2.5-3" here Alan, all in the space of about an hour. I suspect the wind was pulling the snow down harder and faster than normal gravity alone would, certainly seemed that way driving through it.

Sasha didn't get her walkies on Saturday or yesterday, she might get one later today if it thaws enough.

Not sure about the cul-de-sac i live in, this pic is in sunnier times to show the geography :



It slopes downwards away from my Volvo, if you look at the bottom of the image you can see more of the kerb stone on the right, suggesting i'm parked at an angle in the slot. It's actually parallel to the kerb on the left so because of the size/shape of the outcrop of grass/kerbstones, i have to swing to the right before going fairly tight left, straightening then tight left again to get out. Usually opposite my Volvo there is a car parked, in this icy weather if it's there i usually don't risk moving as that slope can get icy and with having to turn and brake at the same time could easily lock the wheels and just slide into it.

Will be interesting to see how many try and venture out today!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

We had about 2.5-3" here Alan, all in the space of about an hour. I suspect the wind was pulling the snow down harder and faster than normal gravity alone would, certainly seemed that way driving through it.

Sasha didn't get her walkies on Saturday or yesterday, she might get one later today if it thaws enough.

Not sure about the cul-de-sac i live in, this pic is in sunnier times to show the geography :

Will be interesting to see how many try and venture out today!

Bob and I have just been out for his first walk - he seems completely impervious to the cold and just loves going for walks whatever the weather. It was really nice when we got out - a winter wonderland.

There is hardly any traffic, as you may see here, very few of my neighbours have attempted to venture out:



The road outside slopes up quite sharply, probably about a 1:20, normally there are a few issues getting out of our road - mainly because people think the answer to spinning wheels is a bit more gas!

I may try out the winter tyres on the Skoda and pop out to Morrisons for some milk in a mo. The car lives under a car port, so I won't have to scrape the windows. The RB can stay under that nice snow blanket for another day :-)

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

Bob and I have just been out for his first walk - he seems completely impervious to the cold and just loves going for walks whatever the weather. It was really nice when we got out - a winter wonderland.

There is hardly any traffic, as you may see here, very few of my neighbours have attempted to venture out:



The road outside slopes up quite sharply, probably about a 1:20, normally there are a few issues getting out of our road - mainly because people think the answer to spinning wheels is a bit more gas!

I may try out the winter tyres on the Skoda and pop out to Morrisons for some milk in a mo. The car lives under a car port, so I won't have to scrape the windows. The RB can stay under that nice snow blanket for another day :-)

The RB would be the easiest to drive Alan - RWD and auto, no contest! If you need some cow juice you could really embarrass/upset your neighbours by wiping the snow off, getting in and driving off normally in it!

[loki_the_glt]

First rule of driving in snow:

Remove ALL of the snow from horizontal surfaces and glass.

Second rule:

Only accelerate/brake when the bonnet and front wheels are facing in the same direction.

These rules apply unless you are a Finn or have Carlsson as a surname- they don't care about the relative directions of wheels and bonnets!

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by loki_the_glt

First rule of driving in snow:

Remove ALL of the snow from horizontal surfaces and glass.

Second rule:

Only accelerate/brake when the bonnet and front wheels are facing in the same direction.

These rules apply unless you are a Finn or have Carlsson as a surname- they don't care about the relative directions of wheels and bonnets!

There's another rule in my book that comes before those - unless it's really necessary, DON'T!!!

Sadly i've got to go out today for something that is necessary so my first rule is already thrown out for today.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

The RB would be the easiest to drive Alan - RWD and auto, no contest! If you need some cow juice you could really embarrass/upset your neighbours by wiping the snow off, getting in and driving off normally in it!

I did use the Skoda to pop down to Aldi (mainly because it was free of snow under the canopy so I didn’t have to bother to scrape it off). I was really impressed with the Yokohama winter tyres - no problems at all in the snow. The journey took much longer than normal, in spite of there being little traffic - but entirely due to people driving like faggots.

The sun is out now, Dan has begun his online schooling for the day, so I think I’ll start the RB and try out my new winter tyres on that car. I think you are right, it will have no problems at all in these conditions.

:-)

PS. I’ve just seen your rule above Dave: of course it is absolutely necessary to test out the RB’s winter tyres in the snow - in the name of science!

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

I did you the Skoda to pop down to Aldi (mainly because it was free of snow under the canopy so I didn’t have to bother to scrape it off). I was really impressed with the Yokohama winter tyres - no problems at all in the snow. The journey took much longer than normal, in spite of there being little traffic - but entirely due to people driving like faggots.

The sun is out now, Dan has begun his online schooling for the day, so I think I’ll start the RB and try out my new winter tyres on that car. I think you are right, it will have no problems at all in these conditions.

:-)

PS. I’ve just seen your rule above Dave: of course it is absolutely necessary to test out the RB’s winter tyres in the snow - in the name of science!

We haven't really had any proper snow during your ownershp of the RB Alan so of course you must test the handling, it's essential in case you get caught out by an unexpected blizzard like i did!

Thinking about it, it's the first proper snow we've had since i've had my 760 so saturday provided me that test, albeit a baptism of fire in a blizzard!

Odd mix of metaphors there but they work in a contorted way!

When i had my second 740GLE, we had some fairly bad snow and i trundled down to the local leasure centre car park which nobody else had been too and gave it the beans. I could just about get it to break traction being extremely brutal and then only for a split second - a sideways drift on the back end for about 4' then the back tyres gripped again and oooooo-errrrrrrrrrrr, who put that hedge there!

Plenty of grip on the front to stop and i wasn't going at any great speed anyway but it showed me how the car handled in the white stuff!